Permafrost microbe discovered growing at –15°C, the coldest
temperature ever reported for bacterial growth
The temperature in the permafrost on Ellesmere Island in the
Canadian high Arctic is nearly as cold as that of the surface of Mars. So the
recent discovery by a McGill University led team of scientists of a bacterium
that is able to thrive at –15ºC, the coldest temperature ever reported for
bacterial growth, is exciting. The
bacterium offers clues about some of the necessary preconditions for microbial
life on both the Saturn moon Enceladus and Mars, where similar briny subzero
conditions are thought to exist.